Artist Dale Chihuly's forty-year career continues to surprise and astound as he radically transforms perceptions about the medium of glass. In this beautifully illustrated book, you will see Chihuly's extraordinary installations at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. He has taken glass well beyond the traditional display case, out into nature itself. The brilliance of color and form of the glass, and the plants it is set among, creates a new reality within the conservatory. Long before arriving at Garfield's gate, Chihuly had been placing his work in unusual settings, often outdoors. From the canals of Venice to the historic walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem, Chihuly has worked his magic. These images, side by side with Chihuly's quotes, provide insight into the personality of this major artist, and show the wide range of his interests as well as his sense of humor.

An essay by Barbara Rose addresses Chihuly's place in art history, while the essay by Garfield Conservatory director Lisa C. Roberts provides a history of garden conservatories (captured so effectively in the vintage postal cards from Chihuly's own collection that open the book). Artist Mark McDonnell explores the intriguing locations that Chihuly is drawn to and his ongoing interest in glass buildings.

Barbara Rose is the author of "American Art since 1900" and major monographs on several American artists of our times, including Helen Frankenthaler, Ad Reinhardt, Joseph Stella, and Arshile Gorky. Currently, she is a contributing editor of "ARTE IN" and "ABC Cultural" and is a distinguished professor in residence at American University in Washington, D.C. Lisa C. Roberts is the director of Garfield and Lincoln Park Conservatories in Chicago. She is the author of "From Knowledge to Narrative: Educators and the Changing Museum", as well as numerous publications about the history and philosophy of museums and museum education.

Mark McDonnell is a visual artist whose work can be found in the permanent collections of the Louvre, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Corning Museum of Glass. He has extensively researched and photographed glasshouses and glass architecture. He is the former chairman of the Glass Department at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

In 1999, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London installed a Chihuly Chandelier in its main entrance hall. It is the first major artwork by Chihuly to be permanently installed in the United Kingdom. The former director of the V&A, Alan Borg, says that "its success, combined with the huge popular interest in his work, convinced us that we should mount a major Chihuly exhibition as soon as possible." As a result, from June 21 to October 21, 2001, an extensive exhibition of Chihuly's art can be seen at the V&A.

Chihuly at the V&A is a powerful book that has been crafted to explain the works presented in the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition. Outstanding essays written by leading experts in contemporary glass, Jennifer Hawkins Opie, Reino Liefkes, and Dan Klein, focus on both a historical and contemporary understanding of glass as it pertains to Chihuly's art.

Drawing on the museum's historic Renaissance collections and expertise, Chihuly at the V&A also explores the development of the traditional Venetian glass workshop and Chihuly's enormous influence in introducing Venetian glassmakers and his own inimitable variations on Venetian style to contemporary glass. In addition, the book includes a chronology of Chihuly's life and listings of his museum exhibitions and museum collections.

More than 100 stunning color photographs do justice to Chihuly's masterworks, providing clarity and detail in examining his diverse oeuvre. Chihuly at the V&A invites readers to marvel in the uncommon and uncompromising world of Chihuly glass.